Working the harvest

And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Luke 10:2

May we visit a bug bear of mine today? I want to come against one of the unscriptural nonsense prayers that trips of the tongue, sounds great and means nothing. Have I got you interested? “Lord, send revival…”

What does it mean? Send revival, bring revival, however you ask for it, what does it mean? Lets go to the scriptures and see what Jesus said. “The harvest is plentiful.” Oh, there you are, revival has already come. There is a huge harvest field of people waiting to receive the good news of the Gospel.

Lets carry on to see what Jesus said next. “Pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest.” Ok! Hear what I am saying and not what I am not. I love prayer. My beef is not praying, my beef is what we pray for and about. When Jesus says, “pray earnestly” I suggest you do what He says.

Jesus withdrew time and time again to pray and spend alone time with His Father. When was the last time you withdrew and spent some quality time with Him? I don’t mean a few minutes in the car on the way to work. That is good. That is vital. No, what I mean is the additional time, the separated out time where you intentionally set yourself before God, just you and Him.

Next, lets see what Jesus was earnestly praying for. It wasn’t revival… “pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” Its us we should be praying for, the workers.

Do you remember the great commission? “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.”

There is no question or concern for if the people will be there to hear and respond to the gospel. No, the onus is on us to take the gospel out there. What happened in Acts at the ascension?

The very last words Jesus spoke before He ascended were not, pray that God sends people to you who want to hear. No, the last words of Jesus as He left the earth were, “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

The Holy Spirit is not a gift for you to enjoy, giving you holy tingles when church is good and a funny sound prayer language to use at church during the slow songs at the end.

He is given to us for a purpose. You are filled with the Holy Spirit to work in God’s harvest. Right where you are at. I know as you read this you are picturing your minister’s face. He can go and make disciples, he’s a minister. You can picture the elders, or the worship leaders going out being ‘good Christians’ but that’s not you. You have no opportunity.

Rubbish. As a stay at home mum/dad you have the ability to sow into your children, let them see you worship, pray, reading the Word. Let the gospel be so natural to them growing up that when they get to an age of understanding they are already walking in the light. What about the school gate, the shopping mall, your neighbours? You have the ability to work in His harvest if you look about.

At work, long hours, important job, you couldn’t possibly find time to witness to the goodness of God in your life. Do I really need to answer this? Every one of your colleagues needs the truth in their life. Everyone you meet, unless they are saved, is silently dying on the inside, looking for that something to make their life different.

At school, someone will need a friend. Whatever you do, wherever you go, if you meet just one single person during the day then you can be a labourer in His harvest. God turns all things to the good of those who love Him. Pray for that person. Ask God to create a moment when you can share why you believe in the goodness of God and how He can help them.

If we all just spoke to one person, invited one person into faith, the family would could overnight. Now that would be revival! Can you talk to one person? Can you pray for one person? Can you pray for yourself? You are a labourer in God’s harvest field, now come on, put down your cup of coffee, set the excuses aside and get back to work ?